God who serves out of love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धांव कान्होबा गेल्या गाई । न म्हणे मी कोण ही काई ॥१॥
आपुलियांचें वचन देवा । गोड सेवा करीतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
मागतां आधीं द्यावा डाव । बळिया मी तो नाहीं भाव ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ऐशा सवें । अनुसरावें जीवेंभावें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Run, Kanho, the cows have strayed! He does not stop to think about who he is or what he is. He sweetly fulfills the words of his own people as a loving act of service. If someone asks, he gives them the first turn, never claiming that he is the mightier one. Says Tuka, one should follow such a Lord with all one's heart and soul.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Run, Kanho, the cows have strayed. He does not stop to ask who he is or what he is. He sweetly carries out the word of his own people, as a loving act of service. If someone asks, he gives them the first turn; he never claims to be the stronger one. Tuka says: such a Lord is the one to follow with all your heart and soul.
What it means
Tukaram watches Krishna obey his playmates without a thought for his own rank. Told to run after the strayed cows, he does not pause to remember that he is God; he simply does what his people ask, gladly, as service. In their games he yields the first turn and never throws his weight around, though he is the mighty one. The poem makes this self-forgetting humility the very ground of devotion: a Lord who serves and steps aside out of love is the one worth following completely, body and soul.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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